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Impression – Choujigen Game Neptune: The Animation, Episode 01

Well, this might have been my most anticipated series from this season. Why this when Free! and Dangan Ronpa are part of the Summer 2013 anime season? This series has a pretty interesting story. It is based on the video game series Hyperdimension Neptunia and I did just buy the first game. Although this anime from David Production is not strictly based on the story from the game series, they use the same characters and universe, so this was instantly intriguing. I bought the first game in the series and I plan to play it alongside the series to see the differences between the two.

Time to grind in the dungeons.

The world is powered by shares that each nation gains based on the local belief in a territory’s goddess. It is because of a need to sustain the people that wars occurred. Conflict is almost an inevitable thing. Having said that, the four goddesses decided that the fighting was becoming too much, so they decided to form a treaty. Shares would no longer be taken by force and conflict between the nations would cease. Unfortunately, peace is not always the greatest thing. Neptune’s nation has started to doubt her abilities. People believe that they can live without the goddesses in these new times of peace and the airhead that is running the place hasn’t really done much to prove herself recently. Well, it is times like these that remind you that you have friends out there to aid you. Neptune sought the aid of Noire in order to improve her standing amongst the people. The goddesses are supposed to clear monsters from the land, so some grinding ensues. The goddesses are supposed to be quite powerful, but something was able to cancel out Noire’s altered form. Although things seemed to go well enough, there appears to be some plotting going on in the background that needs to be addressed.

No guys?

Characters:

There is some interesting stuff going on with these characters. As you can probably tell from this picture, there doesn’t seem to be any male characters. Honestly, I am alright with that. Don’t get me wrong, I like male characters. It is just the fact that anime writers often give us bullshit protagonists that makes me fine with this. Don’t add characters that you won’t develop properly. Criticism aside, the characters are what make this series fun. They all personify game systems or parts of the gaming industry. If you don’t think that is cool, then we probably can’t be friends.

Neptune appears to be our main character if you had to pick one. She is the goddess that represents Planeptune in the series and is the personified version of the Sega Neptune. For those of you that do not know, that is a cancelled project for a game system from Sega. Her personality changes greatly when she transforms. The normal Neptune is kind of an airhead and likes to rely on others in a friendly way. The transformed Neptune is very reliable and mature which seems to fit her transformed character design.

Nepgear is Neptune’s little sister. I THINK that she is the personified version of a game that was supposed to be on the Sega Neptune. This little sister acts a little more mature than her older sister. Having said that, she is not the strong fighter that Neptune is. The two spend a lot of time together, so we will see this girl a lot.

Compa is a friend of Neptune’s. She is the personified version of the video game’s production company Compile Heart. The girl seems to be fairly shy, but she has a will to help her friends. Unfortunately, that will does not translate into fighting power.

IF is a friend of Neptune’s. She is the personified version of Ideaf Factory which is the parent company for Compile Heart. Unlike the rest of Neptune’s group, IF is fairly serious and a decently strong fighter. Well, unless you compare her to the transformed Neptune that is.

Noire is the very serious leader of Lastation. She is the personified version of the Playstation 3. Although Noire is very serious and will often avoid complimenting others, she is always trying to help people. Unlike the lazy Neptune, Noire has the support of her people. Although she is powerful, Noire is a little quick to the draw when it comes to transforming.

Uni is Noire’s little sister. I don’t know if she is the personified version of anything. Please tell me in the comments if you know more than I do. Unlike Noire, Uni is very friendly with other people. She is always trying to get her sister to acknowledge her, but that can be pretty tough. We did not get to see Uni fight.

Blanc is the leader of Lowee. She is the personified version of the Wii. We don’t really know a lot about her other than the fact that she is a little short-tempered and that she is the only goddess without giant breasts in her transformed state. Although it should not be a big deal, I know that the series will point that out.

Vert is the leader of Leanbox. She is the personified version of the Xbox360. Once again, we do not know a lot about this character other than the fact that she is going to be important. Also, she appears to be that calm, older sister character.

We met a few other people, but their level of importance will be revealed later. Things are already pretty crowded because we know that the goddesses and their immediate parties will probably be prominent characters. Oh well, I hope that they at least develop the people that they throw out there.

I agree with you on this one.

Current Opinion of the Show:

I can see this being a very good series. I like that you get that RPG feel while you are watching it with the objectives, party members, and mob fighting. The characters are fun so far and I will always enjoy the concept behind their various personalities. The only problem that I have thus far is the unnecessarily sexual stuff that happened during the slime fight. There was licking and the invasion of clothes. I am not into that, but I can see it appealing to fans. Overall, I see this series as one with great potential. I personally will enjoy it is story driven and we see more monster fighting. It is pretty interesting how Shares are basically driven by stockholder confidence. Sorry for jumping around. I just can’t get enough of the concept behind this series. I think I will pretty much leave it at that. Watch this anime and play the games.